Saturating apparatus



Oct'. 21, 1930. H. A. SJODAHL Y I SATURATING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 5,1928 INVENTOR .Hn-pma A. OaopAHl- BY m ATTORNEY Patented 21, 1930 UNITEDSTATES PATENT: OFFICE mums a. saommn, or cmcmaurr, omo, assreuon, BYimsim assro, 'ro

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, .PORA'I'ION 01 IASSAGHUSET'I'S SATU'BATIHG APPARATUS Application fledSeptember 5, 1928. Bertal Io. 804,103.

This invention relates to apparatus for impregnating absorbent fibroussheets as for example, the felted fibrous sheets employed as a base forcomposition roofing material.

More particularly my invention is concerned with improved methods ofsaturation, wherein, the extent of saturation is carried to a pointbeyond the normal practice and wherein, the degree of saturationobtained may be regulated within desired It will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art, that it is desirable that the absorbent fibroussheet constituting the base or foundation of the roofing be saturated ascompletely as possible so as to not only completely cover or coat theindividual fibers but to also fill the voids or interstices between thefibers with the saturant so as to thus lessen the capacity of the sheetto absorb water or moisture.

Improved methods have recently been adopted in the roofing industry forbrin ing about more complete saturation of t e raw roofing felt than hashitherto been possible in normal commercial practice, these improvedmethods as devised, being also adapted for controlling the extent ofsaturation so as to enable the manufacture to produce saturated sheetsof substantially any desired degree of saturation.

My invention concerns itself. particularly with the aforesaid improvedmethods of saturation and has for one of its objects the pro vision ofsimplified means for carrying out such a process. In carrying out mginvention, I first immerse the sheet of elt in a bath of the saturant insubstantially the same manner as is done in the prior practice but inwithdrawing the sheet from the bath, I employ a pair of squeeze rolls ordraw rolls so arranged and having the sheet threaded therethrough insuch a way, that excess saturant is squeezed from one face of the sheettherethrough and deposited upon the opposite face of the sheet so as toleave the first named face of the sheet with substantially no excessthereon, while a substantial excess is thusdeposited u on one face onlof the sheet. Preferably t e sheet may be t en conducted through adevice for removing more or Figure 1 illustrates somewhat conventionallyan arrangement of apparatus for carry- 1ng out my invention;

'Figure 2 is a plan view showing part of the mechanism of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view of the i draw or squeeze rolls,illustrating the manher of threading the sheet therearound.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the

numeral 20 indicates a roll of felt of the character commonly used inthe asphalt roofing industry as the base or foundation forpreparedroofing material. The felt from this roll is led over suitable guiderolls 21, into a bath of saturating material, such as low melting pointasphalt, contained in the saturating tank 22, the sheet being passedaround guide rolls 23, similar to the guide rolls 21 and located nearthebottom of the tank 22. Mounted adjacent the upper end of tank 22,opposite the point where the sheet enters the ta are a pair of draw orsqueeze rolls 24, 25, arranged one above the other and driven from somesuitable source of power. in the directions indicated by the arrows.These rolls are adapted to propel the sheet through the tank and thebath of saturant contained therein. As shown, the sheet passes firstaround the upper part of the upper roll 24, thence downwardly betweenthe rolls and around the lower roll 25 from which point the sheet isthen led to any suitable form of mechanism for permitting it to cool. Ifdesired, the up er draw roll 24 may be longitudinally andcircumferentially grooved or corrugated in order to provide a roughenedsurface to further assist in propelling the wet sheet from thesaturating bathl It will be seen, that as the sheet passes between theopposing surfaces of the rolls 24 expressed from the surface B of thesheet which is in contact with the surface of the roll 24 through thesheet, leaving the sheet at the surface A, and falling downwardly asindicated at F, to be received upon the surface A of the sheet as thelatter passes beond the lower roll 25. In this way, the sheet is ineffect transformed at this point from a condition where it has excess onboth of its surfaces to a condition where substantially all of theexcess is present on one of the surfaces only thus leaving the oppositesurface with substantially no excess saturant thereon. In this conditionthe sheet may be more readily cooled so asto absorb excess saturant fromthe first named surface, it being found that the cooling actionprogresses more rapidly and the saturant is absorbed to a greater extentby the sheet when the latter has excess on one of its surfaces only.

Generally, the sheet as withdrawn from the saturating bath has a greaterexcess of asphalt on its surface than can ordinarily be absorbed intothe voids and pore spaces of the sheet during the cooling action, andconsequently, when substantially all of this excess becomes deposited onone surface of the sheet after the latter passes the squeeze rolls 24and 25 as above described, the layer of excess saturant on the surface Awill be in excess of the maximum amount that can be absorbed into theinterior of the sheet. It is desirable, that after the sheet has cooledto the required extent, no excess saturant remain on either of itssurfaces, since such an excess may lead to a slippage of the overlyingprotective coating of high melting point asphalt subsequently appliedthereto in the manufacture of the roofing product, due to the relativefluidity of the saturant material under the action of solar heat. At thesame time, however, it is desirable to cool the sheet in the presence ofsuch an excess of saturant on one of its surfaces as can besubstantially entirely absorbed into the voids thereof during thecooling action. Further, it is highly advantageous to control the amountof excess saturant remaining on the surface of the sheet so as to secureregulated degrees of saturation. My invention includes mechanism forthus controlling the amount of saturant remaining on the surface of thesheet, the mechanism being susceptible of operation to secure almost anydesired degree of saturation, ranging from a saturating efficiency of 65to 80% as normally obtained in the prior practice to an efficiency inexcess of 90% and approximating the maximum capacity of the sheet toabsorb saturant.

For this purpose I provide a tension or doctor blade 30, disposedtransversely of the sheet and connected at its endsby the rela tivelyshort legs 31 to a parallel rod or bar 32, the sheet passing through theloop thus formed and riding on the bar 32. The bar 32 is pivoted nearits ends in the bearings 33, fixed to the supporting frames 34, and anoperating lever 35 is secured at one end of the rod or bar 32 forswinging the blade 30 from the depending position it tends to assume byits own Weight. By properly manipulating the lever 35, the tension ofthe blade 30 upon the surface A of the sheet may be varied to therebydoctor olf more or less of the excess saturant falling at F onto thesurface A; By thus regulating the tension of the bar 30 upon the surfaceA ofthe sheet, the amount of saturant that will remain on this face ofthe sheet as it passes beyond the bar 30, may be controlled withinrelatively narrow limits. In order to thus control the tension of thedoctor or tension blade upon the surface of the sheet, the handle 35 mayhave slidably arranged thereon, a counter weight 36 which may be fixedat-any desired position along the length of the handle as by means of aclamping device 37.

By arranging a counter weight at the proper point along the operatinglever 35, a regulated excess of saturant will remain on surface A of thesheet, and the sheet may then be conducted with this excess on thesurface thereof to the usual festooning or looping mechanism 40 by whichthe sheet is supported in loops or festoons 41 and exposed to theatmosphere for sufiicient length of time to enable the sheet to draw orsuck in, by the attendant cooling action, the excess remaining on thesurface, as already described. It will be seen. therefore, that by myinvention I provide simple means whereby the sheet is permitted to coolin the presence of a regulated excess of saturant on one of its faces,the regulation of such excess enabling the saturation to be carried onto substantially any desired degree. From the looping mechanism 40, thesaturated sheet may be led to the subsequent stages of operation,namely, the application of the waterproof protective coating and thesurfacing of mineral grit or other masking material, as will beunderstood by those skilled in the art.

Having thus described one embodiment of my invention it will be apparentthat numerous variations and modifications may be made therein, withoutdeparting from its scope as defined in the claims hereunto appended.

I claim as my invention:

1. Apparatus of the character described, comprising a tank adapted tocontain a supply of molten saturant, means for conveying a sheet ofabsorbent material into said tank, means for withdrawing the sheet fromsaid tank and squeezing excess saturant therefrom onto one face of thesheet, means for removing some of said excess from said face, said lastnamed means being controllable to leave a regulated residual excessthereon, and

means for ermitting the sheet to cool in the presence 0 the saidregulated excess.

2. Apparatus for saturating absorbent material, comprising a tankadapted to contain a supply oi. molten saturant, means for conveying asheet of absorbent material into said tank, means for propelling thesheet through said tank, said propelling means being arranged to operateupon the sheet in such manner as to squeeze saturant from said sheet anddischarge the same upon one face of the sheet as the latter passesbeyond said propelling means, means for removing some of said saturantfrom said face, said last named means being controllable to leave onsald face a regulated excess of saturant, and means for permitting thesheet to be cooled in the presence of said excess.

3. Apparatus for saturating absorbent material comprising a tank adaptedto contain a supply of molten saturant, means for conveying a sheet ofabsorbent material into said tank, means for propelling the sheetthrough said tank, said propelling means being arranged to operate uponthe sheet in such manner as to squeeze saturant from said sheet anddischarge the same upon one face of the sheet as the latter passesbeyond said propelling means, a doctor blade adapted to remove from saidface some of'the sat urant thereon, means for regulating the tension ofsaid blade'upon the sheet whereby to leave on said face a controlledexcess of saturant, and means for permitting the sheet to cool in thepresence of said excess.

4. Apparatus for saturating absorbent material comprising a tank adaptedto contain a supply of molten saturant, means for conveying a sheet ofabsorbent material into said tank, a pair of draw rolls exteriorly ofsaid tank for withdrawing the sheet therefrom, the sheet being threadedaround said draw rolls so as to squeeze saturant from said 1 sheet anddischarge the same upon one face.

of the sheet as the latter passes beyond said rolls, means forremovingsome of said saturant from'said face, said last named meansbeing controllable to leave on said face a regulated excess of saturant,and means for permitting the sheet to be cooled in the presence of saidexcess.

a '5. The method of saturating sheet matethe sheet to cool in thepresence of said residual excess.

HILDING A. SJ ODAHLQ

